Cigarette case



Oct. 30, 1934.

1. N. LlND CIGARETTE CASE v CII Illllll L Filed Jan. 51, 1953 lNvsN-roR lm N. Lind ATTORNEYS 40j tion andsought to be defined in the claims.

Patented Oct. 30, 1934 vUNITED STATES ATENT 4oprime;

This invention relates to a case or container, and more particularly to cigarette cases.V

The general object of my invention resides in y the provision of an improved cigarette case which L will be simple in construction, neat in appearance,

compact, light, and operable in a smooth and efficient manner. More particular objects of my invention are toprovide a cigarette case adapted to directly receive a soft pack of cigarettes of conventional type, so that it will not be necessary to transfer the cigarettes singly from their original package to the present cigarette case, and at the same time to soconstruct the cigarette case that the cigarettes will be closed in a substantially air- -i tight manner, thereby preventing the Same from drying out.

` Stillanother object of my invention is to so arrange the mechanism of the cigarette case that a single movement of a finger-piece or the like,

291 readily operable while holding the ciragette case in only one hand, serves both to open the cover of the case to expose the cigarettes and to move the cigarettes partially out of the case to permit ready `extraction of the same. Further objects I of my invention'center about the mechanism of the cover and are to dispense with springs and special operating levers and the like, and instead td'provide for-opening of the cover by simple gravity operation; and to further provide means 305 for preliminarily aligning the cover with the top of the casing during closing of the same,- so that the cover may be provided with a relatively deep'iiange insuring a snug rit or mating'of the cover with the casing.

`To the accomplishment of the foregoing and such other objects as will hereinafter appear, my invention consists in the cigarette case elements and their relation one to another as hereinafter are more particularly described in the specifica- The specification is accompanied by a drawing in which: i

Fig. lis a perspective view of the cigarette case inV open condition;

Fig. 2 is a section taken in elevation in the of the line 2 2 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 lis a similar view showing the cover when fully opened; i

Fig. 4 is a similar View showing the cover partially opened;

Fig'. 5 is a section taken in the plane of the line 5-5 in Fig. 3; and Y Fig. 6 is a section taken in the'plane of the line 6 6 in Fig. 2.

lReferring to the drawing, the4 present cigarette plane case comprises acarrier 12, a cover 14 pivoted on the carrier, and an outside member 16'surro'undin`g the carrier 12 and reciprocable relative thereto; The cover 14 is dimensioned to mate with the up` per edge of member 16 so that when the carrier 60: 1-2 is reciprocated downwardly relative to member 16, as shown in Figs. Zand 6, the cover 14 closes the member 16 and thereby closes the cigarette case. While the outside member 16 may, if desired, be made in `the form of an open-ended sleeve, I prefer to make the same with a bottom wall 18 aswell as side walls, all of said walls preferably being drawn-out of a singlerelatively thin sheet of metaland meeting in-smooth rounded edges.' ''l It then is readily possible to make the carrier 12 skeleton-like, it consisting 'merely of an open frame the side and bottom walls of which are, for the most part, cut away, as is indicated by the' openings 20, 22, 24, and 26 in Figs. 2, 5,V and 6. 75.A This skeleton'or open frame construction conserves metal and lightens the nished cigarette case, and is eminently satisfactory when, asin the present instance,the case is designed to receive the original package of cigarettes Without removing the individual cigarettes from their paper wrapper. It will be understood, however, that by merely providing the carrier with a com` plete bottom wall,` it is possible to load the same with individual cigarettes. Y

The cover 14 is provided with depending arms 30, which may be formed integrally with the end edges of the cover, and the lower ends of these arms are freely pivoted on the side Walls of carrier 12. These side walls are preferably projected upwardly to form bearing pedestals 32, to which thelower ends of the cover arms 30 are pinned by bearing pins 34. It will be noted that the arms 30 are relatively long, being preferably suiicient in length to move the cover 14 toone side of the cigarettes and casingwhen the cover is opened, as will be clearly evident from an inspection of Figs. 1 and 3. The cover is simply freely pivoted, and no springs, levers,4 or other mechanism need be .provided to insure opening of the cover when the carrier is elevated. .Instead the cover may, if desired, be fulcrumed in a slightly offset or unbalanced position so that it tends naturally to fall open under the innuence of gravity. But it is not at all essential to unbalance the cover, for I rind that in normal use the cigarette case is invariably held at an angle away from the body, rather than in a strictly vertical position, and for this reason the cover in- 110 stantly falls to its open position even if no initial unbalance is provided.

It will be evident that when the carrier 12 is moved downwardly, the cover 14 is dragged into its closed position. In order to make it possible to provide the cover with a relatively deep flange, such as the flange 36, mating snugly with the casing member 16, it is desirable that the cover be oscillated upwardly into alignment with the casing member before it has been drawn downwardly to its fully closed position. For this purpose I provide the edge walls of the casing member 16 with a pair of fixed stop pins 38 positionedto lie just alongside of the rear edges of arms 30, as is clearly shown in Fig. 2. The manner in which these pins operate to bring the cover into proper alignment during the closing operation will be evident from an inspection of Figs. 3, 4, and 2 in successive order, for in the open condition shown in Fig. 3, the cover is free to swing downwardly because the arms 30 have been elevated a substantial distance above pins 38. During the downward movement of carrier 12 the arms 30 reach pins 38, as is shown in Fig. 4, and bear against the same, thereby causing the cover to be oscillated forwardly and upwardly until it assumes a horizontal position in direct alignment with casing member 16, and, of course, the cover retains this position during the last part of the closing or downward movement of the carrier and cover.

There is little danger of the cover falling over to the opposite side because, as has already been mentioned, the cigarette case is invariably held at an angle away from the body. However, to doubly insure against such possible movement, means are provided to limit the permissible tilting movement of the cover so that it can tilt only in the rearward and not in the forward direction. Specifically, the arms 30 are provided with shoulders 40, best shown in Fig. 6, which bear against the upper ends 42 of bearing pedestals 32. It will be evident that if cover 14 is swung forwardly from the open positions shown in Figs. 3 and 4, shoulder 40 will bear against the mating surface 42 in the manner shown in Figs. 2 and 6 and thus effectively prevent movement of the cover beyond its normal or aligned position. Y

The pins 38 may at the same time be used as stop pins to limit the permissible upward movement of the carrier, and for this purpose the side edges of the carrier may be recessed or cut away, as is shown at 44, to determine and limit the up ward movement of the carrier at any desired point. As a matter of neatness in appearance, this upward movement is preferably limited to an amount bringing the rear edges of arms 30 in horizontal alignment with the upper edge of the casing, as is illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3. The rear edges of arms 30 are accordingly preferably made straight, as shown, so as to permit full opening of the cover and so as to properly cooperate with the restoring pins 38. The forward edges of arms 30 may, however, be curved, as shown, so as to present a continuous and attractive sweep from bearing pedestals 32 on up to the edge of the cover.

The carrier 12 and casing 16 may be given the necessary relative movement for elevating the cigarettes and opening the cover in any desired manner, and in the present case this movement is obtained by means of a finger-piece 50 which is secured to the carrier 12 by an appropriate rivet 52. The rivet 52 passes through a thin slot 54 extending vertically through the front wall of the casing. 'I'he linger-piece 50 is preferably elongated in a vertical direction so as to at all times cover the slot 54. The nger-piece is further roughened or milled with preferably hori- Zontal ridges so as to facilitate moving the same longitudinally of the casing while holding the casing in one hand.

It is believed that the mode of constructing and using the improved cigarette case of my invention wlil be apparent from the foregoing detailed description. The cigarette case is simple in construction, neat in appearance, and receives and protectively encloses a complete paper package of cigarettes. The package of cigarettes is slid into the opened casing, and the paper at the top of the package is torn away. A part of the paper at the front wall of the package is likewise torn away, as is clearly shown in Fig. 1, and the tearing of this part of the paper is facilitated by the upper forward edge 60 of the casing, which acts as a guide against which the paper is pulled and torn. The cigarettes are then readily accessible because they are elevated for a substantial distance out of the casing, and the cover is oscillated rearwardly entirely out of the path of removal of cigarettes from the case, all as will be clearly evident from an inspection of Fig. 1. After removing a cigarette from the case, it is simply necessary to pull the finger-piece 50 downwardly, whereupon the cigarettes are lowered into the casing and the cover is tightly closed. The snug t of cover and casing obtainable with my construction results in a substantially air-tight package which greatly delays drying out of the cigarettes. At the same time, the necessary movements and guidance of the cover and cigarettes are obtained without the use of springs, lever mechanisms, and the like, and while employing an exceedingly simple and fool-proof structure.

It will be apparent that while I have shown and described my invention in preferred form, many changes and modifications may be made in the structure disclosed without departing from the spirit of the invention, defined in the following claims. 1

I claim:

1. A cigarette case comprising a cigarette carrier, a relatively wide cover pivoted at the upper end of the carrier by a pair of relatively narrow depending arms of sufcient length to oscillate the cover to one side of the carrier, an outside member surrounding and reciprocable on the cigarette carrier, and inwardly projecting pins so located on said member as to bear against the arms for oscillating the cover upwardly into alignment with said member when the carrier is moved downwardly relative to said member.

2. A cigarette case comprising a cigarette carrier, a relatively wide cover freely pivoted at the middle of the upper end of the carrier by a pair of relatively narrow depending arms of sufficient length to move the cover to one side of the carrier when the cover falls to its open position, an outside member surrounding and reciprocable on the cigarette carrier, and inwardly projecting pins so located on said member as to bear against the arms for oscillating the cover upwardly into alignment with said member when the carrier is moved downwardly relative to said member, said pins also acting as stop means to limit the upward movement of the carrier relative to the member.

3. A cigarette case comprising an outer casing, a frame slidable therein, a finger-piece at the outside of the casing attached to the frame for reciprocating the frame, a cover for said casing pivoted to the top of the frame by a pair of relatively narrow depending arms of sufficient length to oscillate the cover to one side of the cigarettes and casing, said cover being freely pivoted on the frame so as to fall of its own weight toward one side of the casing, and inwardly projecting pins so located as to bear against said arms and to oscillate the cover to a position above the open end of the casing during downward movement of the frame and cover.

4. A cigarette case comprising an outer casing, a skeleton frame slidable therein and dirnensioned to receive a conventional soft package of cigarettes, a finger-piece at the outside of the casing attached to the frame for reciprocating the frame, a flanged cover for said casing pivoted to the middle of the top of the frame by a pair of depending arms of sufcient length to oscillate the cover to one side of the cigarettes and casing, said cover being freely pivoted on the frame so as to fall of its own weight toward one side of the casing, means on the frame to prevent the cover from falling toward the opposite side of the casing, and means to oscillate the cover to a position above the open end of the casing during downward movement of the frame and cover, said cover fitting the casing tightly to make a substantially air-tight enclosure for the cigarettes.

IRA N. LIND. 

